Electric Vehicle Charging Queue Management with Blockchain

Abstract

We will have to build adequate charging station infrastructure to support the massive proliferation of electric vehicles over the next few years. A federated structure for charging stations can serve as a solution for building a large number of charging stations. It will allow microgrids, private houses, and hotels to provide charging services. Present literature on the topic of managing electric vehicle charging queues has not addressed the problems associated with such a federated network of charging stations. In this paper, we solve the electric vehicle charging queue management problem through a federation of charging stations using blockchains. In this electric vehicle queue management solution, we show that (a) stations cannot hide information to manipulate charging queues, (b) it enhances the privacy of electric vehicles as they are not required to reveal their exact desired recharging locations, (c) it encourages electric vehicles to recharge at the prescribed charging stations, (d) it allocates better recharging stations to electric vehicles who reveal their exact desired recharging location, i.e., one pays for privacy, (e) it supports load balancing over stations, and (f) blockchain not only provides a transparent and secure solution but also provides incentives to the station owners to bear the cost of establishing a charging station.

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Acknowledgments

This publication has emanated from research supported in part by a research grant from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) under Grant Numbers SFI/12/RC/2289 and SFI/16/RC/3918, co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund.